Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox hit by $75 million lawsuit

A lawsuit against Bitcoin\’s main trading exchange Mt. Gox was filed this week regarding rights to the North American market. And no, the plaintiff is not seeking damages in Bitcoins.

CoinLab, backed by venture capitalist Peter Vessenes, said it entered into an agreement with Mt. Gox in November that gave CoinLab access to Mt. Gox’s technology – its computer servers and the “exclusive right to certain intellectual property” – so that CoinLab could provide exchange services to North American customers as Mt. Gox\’s exclusive partner in the region. Mt. Gox is based in Japan.

Transactions in the U.S. and Canada through Mt. Gox were switched to CoinLab as of March 29, according to a press release from CoinLab.

The suit alleges that Mt. Gox beached its contract with CoinLab by conducting business with North American customers and failing to provide necessary data, according to a complaint filed by CoinLab in federal court.

CoinLab is seeking at least $75 million in damages.

“Defendants have, in email and other written exchanges, and in public statements to the press acknowledged that they have directly serviced customers in the United States and Canada since entering the Agreement. This conduct constitutes a breach of the Agreement, including the exclusivity provisions in the Agreement,” the filing states.

CoinLab’s Vessenes said in the statement: \” What tipped us into filing was our complete inability to get Mt. Gox to deliver on the few simple things left that were needed for customers to move over en-masse”

Mark Karpeles, chief executive officer of Mt. Gox, said in a statement Friday: “Mt. Gox has been contacted by Coinlab (US) regarding a formal complaint ﬁled against us in the United States. As we have just now received the complaint, neither Mt. Gox nor our legal team can make any ofﬁcial comment on the matter at this time, but we take this very seriously and will respond appropriately and quickly once we have had time to review it.”

Both Vessenes and Karpeles sit on the board of the Bitcoin Foundation.

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